London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 19, 2025

British dragonfly numbers soar as warming climate attracts new species

British dragonfly numbers soar as warming climate attracts new species

Study finds 40% of resident and regular migrant dragonflies and damselflies have increased in number since 1970

Six new species of dragonfly have colonised Britain in the last 25 years as dragonflies and damselflies boom in a warming climate.

More than 40% of resident and regular migrant dragonflies and damselflies have increased in number since 1970 with just 11% declining, according to a study of 1.4m dragonfly records.

Thriving species include the black-tailed skimmer and the brilliant metallic blue-and-green emperor dragonfly, Britain’s biggest species, which has increased more than any other, flying north and west into Scotland and Ireland this century.

Among the new colonists are the red-veined darter, the willow emerald damselfly and the southern migrant hawker, a large, powerful flyer which crossed the Channel and was first observed laying eggs here in 2010.

Another species is a returnee: the dainty damselfly was wiped out by the coastal floods of 1953 but successfully found its way back to the Isle of Sheppey and the Kent coastline a decade ago.

Experts said that global heating was helping cold-blooded dragonflies move northwards as the suitable “climate envelope” in which they can survive shifts north too.

Dave Smallshire, co-editor of the State of Dragonflies in Britain and Ireland 2021 report, said improvements in water quality and the restoration of wetland habitats may be a factor in some increases as well.

“Given the extreme high temperatures that we’ve been getting, dragonflies have had what’s needed to drive them north and north-westwards,” said Smallshire.

The Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator), Britain’s biggest species, is thriving.


“Habitat changes may be a factor too. In some cases we’ve created big reservoirs and new lakes, and there may be more garden ponds than there were. After lots of major drainage of wetlands over 200 years, more recently we’ve seen large-scale wetland reversion such as the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire, the Avalon Marshes in Somerset and the Flow Country in Scotland.”

The study, which is published by the British Dragonfly Society, used sightings data gathered by 17,000 volunteers since 1970 of the 46 residents and regular migrants and ten rare vagrants on the current British and Irish list. Nineteen species have increased while just five have declined, according to analysis by the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology.

Smallshire said that there was also encouraging evidence that wetlands engineered by returning beavers to river valleys is helping dragonflies too. At an experimental site in west Devon, the wetland created by beavers damming a small stream saw the arrival of the small red damselfly, which was not found for tens of kilometres either side of the site and is not known for its long-distance flight.

Many dragonflies are capable of long-distance flight and warmer weather is likely to encourage other continental species to appear in Britain or establish themselves as residents in the near future. The winter damselfly unusually overwinters as a fully-grown adult (rather than a nymph in a pond) and one has already turned up in a porch in south Wales.

Another future visitor could be the violet dropwing, a spectacularly coloured African species which has colonised the Iberian peninsula and has now crossed into south-west France.

“It’s not insurmountable in weather like we’re currently experiencing that these things could come wandering across on a southerly air flume,” said Smallshire. “They might not all colonise but they could turn up unexpectedly.”

But more extreme weather conditions is not good news for all dragonflies, with hotter weather likely to push declining species such as the common hawker and the black darter farther north.

“The so-called common hawker should be called the moorland hawker because it is most common on the blanket bogs in the north of Britain,” said Smallshire. “We should be most concerned about these and we need to keep an eye on them. It is harder to get evidence of species disappearing than to spot new species turning up.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
×